Wednesday, August 05, 2009

I'll say this about Leno: even though his comedy isn't my thing, and I doubt I'll watch his new show very much (and I'm irked that it's taking away so much real estate from scripted shows), the man knows how to work a room. He had the critics eating out of his hand.

Also, the question I asked about Letterman (mentioned in the NJ.com post) surprised him -- "I never thought of it like that before," he said -- and this is a guy who's been in showbiz so long he doesn't seem surprised by much. Maybe the rift between him and Dave is so vast that he couldn't even envision the two having something in common now.

Easy and middlebrow Leno's jokes may be, but Middle America eats them up, and he works hard at that, rarely takes time off, and when he does take time off, spends chunks of it doing comedy in Vegas.

I've thought for a while now that while the Leno show is likely to be critically lambasted, artistically dull as dishwater, and generally bland, it will nonetheless be a decent success, as there are very few "light" options at 10 PM. CBS has 4 nights of dour procedurals and Mentalist (the unintentional comedy of "CSI: Miami" doesn't count). ABC is a little better--"Castle" is fairly light, "Private Practice" can be light, and "Eastwick" will have at least some comic elements, I assume. Even so, the comedy demo is underserved at 10.

Sounds like he's borrowing from "The Daily Show" a bit with his proposed taped pieces. And for things "not fitting the Tonight Show brand" then why is Conan doing so many things not done under Leno? I agree he'll probably be a moderate success. Look at all the reality shows that pull in an audience week after week. Its not my cup of tea, but obviously I'm not the type the networks are chasing after